Jun 032022
 
 June 3, 2022  Posted by at 8:47 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,


Carl Bloch The transfiguration c1865

 

The East Grows Stronger While The West Gets Weaker (ZH)
Zelensky Says Russia Controls A Fifth Of Ukrainian Territory (BBC)
Quo Vadis, Mr Johnson? (Batiushka)
US Engaged In “Offensive” Cyber Ops Against Russia In Ukraine: NSA Director (ZH)
Biden To Visit Saudi Arabia In Push To Lower Oil Prices And Punish Russia (G.)
Biden’s Inner Trudeau (Turley)
Arms Sent To Ukraine Will End Up In Criminal Hands, Says Interpol Chief (G.)
Voting Software Vulnerable In Some States (AP)
Bill Barr Applauds Durham For Showing Truth On Clinton Campaign, FBI (JTN)
The Decline and Fall of Davos Man (PS)

 

 

 

 

Inflation

 

 

Kat Lindley

 

 

Interesting graph. Qué pasa?

 

 

It’s like they do it on purpose.

The East Grows Stronger While The West Gets Weaker (ZH)

The latest agreement among member nations on export bans targeting Russia is largely oil focused, not natural gas focused, with the union demanding an immediate 70% decrease in Russian oil transferred BY SHIP. Oil transferred by pipeline will continue to flow into the EU for now. The ban is intended to expand to 90% of all shipborne Russian oil by the end of this year. Natural gas imports from Russia will also continue. While some European nations are more dependent on Russian energy than others, overall 40% of the EU’s needs are supplied by the country’s industry. It is not surprising that they are seeking an incremental approach to sanctions, they simply would not be able to survive another winter if they were to go cold turkey and block Russian imports completely. Of course, this does not mean that Russia has to operate on Europe’s timetable.

Russia is already reducing exports of natural gas to multiple EU countries, with Denmark, Netherlands and Germany being the latest to see losses. The EU’s ban was oil and ship focused because they cannot find an alternative source for natural gas that would resolve shortages if they banned everything. Germany in particular would be destroyed by the loss of natural gas supplies from Russia with its 42% dependency. The solutions offered by governments and in the mainstream media neglect certain realities. Namely, they claim that output can be increased or diverted to Europe to fill the gap. Joe Biden has suggested that the US is a “net exporter” of oil (this advantage has swiftly declined since he entered the White House according to the IEA) and that the US could help alleviate European demand. The IEA and OPEC members like Saudi Arabia have offered to increase market availability and output of oil if Russian exports are hit with sanctions.

The problem is that increased production is a fantasy stifled by the realities of labor shortages, increased drilling costs due to inflation and shortages in raw materials caused by supply chain disruptions. There is little chance that production capacity will ever be able to match EU demands, according to experts in the drilling industry. [..] Russia has shown considerable resilience to sanctions on oil as both China and India have increased purchases in tandem with Europe’s bans. The wider implication of this being that Europe and the West will be facing reduced global oil supplies and paying a premium while countries like China and India will be enjoying increased supplies and lower prices from Russia. The East grows stronger while the West gets weaker

Read more …

“Zelensky admits Russia now holds one-fifth of Ukraine, the largest country entirely within Europe. What he didn’t acknowledge is that Russia controls Ukraine’s industrial heartland, 90% of its energy resources (including all of offshore oil), and its critical ports and shipping.”

“BREAKING: Tribunal over Ukrainian warcrimes will be held in Mariupol. It will be called the Mariupol Tribunal. In addition to the Ukrainian Nazis who committed war crimes in Mariupol, foreign mercenaries and NATO instructors will also be tried there.”

Zelensky Says Russia Controls A Fifth Of Ukrainian Territory (BBC)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russian forces have seized 20% of his country’s territory, as Moscow’s invasion nears its 100th day. Addressing lawmakers in Luxembourg, he added that the front line extended for more than 1,000km (621 miles). “All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression,” he told MPs via videolink. Russian forces have been intensifying attacks on the city of Severodonetsk in the eastern Donbas region. UK defence officials say Russia has seized most of the city and are making “steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery”.


Severodonetsk is the easternmost city under Ukrainian control and regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russia was trying to break through defences in the city “from all directions”. However he said Ukrainian troops were carrying out counter-attacks, “pushing back the enemy on some streets and taking several prisoners”. Intense street-to-street fighting in the city had hampered evacuations, he said, describing such efforts as “extremely dangerous”. In a video address late on Thursday evening, Mr Zelensky said the situation in Donbas had not changed significantly that day but that Ukrainians had experienced “some success” in battles in Severodonetsk.

Read more …

“..Johnson regurgitates the old Victorian anti-Russian myths of ‘The Great Game’..”

Quo Vadis, Mr Johnson? (Batiushka)

Alexander Johnson, or to give him his full name, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, was born to wealthy British parents in New York in June 1964, fifty years after the Sarajevo assassination in June 1914. Since 2019 Johnson has been the Prime Minister of the UK. Giving the impression of an elitist and snobbish aristocrat and distantly related to Queen Elizabeth II, he used to work as a right-wing journalist but is above all a renowned political opportunist. A man of the people he is not. Like so many other politicians, does he actually believe in anything, apart from in himself? Johnson is a biographer of his idol, the half-American Winston Churchill, whom he appears to imitate in his stoop and gait. His fawning book The Churchill Factor, clearly indicates who his model is.

He has five or six or seven children (he himself does not seem to be too sure how many he has fathered by various mothers) and enjoys drunken parties in Downing Street during and outside lockdowns. A highly divisive and controversial figure inside the UK, loved by a few and hated by most, the following quip is made about him: What is the difference between Zelensky and Johnson? Zelensky is a buffoon who became a politician, whereas Johnson is a politician who became a buffoon. More serious commentators ask the question: Is Johnson a natural buffoon, or does he just pretend to be a buffoon? Or, perhaps most likely of all, is he a natural buffoon who pretends to be an even greater buffoon? Of course, most people will admit that as regards Zelensky, he never became a politician, but remained a buffoon. But that is another story.

Despite his middle name of Boris (1), Johnson is a Russophobe to the core, as prejudiced as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (given his title because he defended the indefensible Boer War) or any other old Imperialist. Like other blinkered representatives of the Norman-British Establishment, Johnson regurgitates the old Victorian anti-Russian myths of ‘The Great Game’ as well as the new ones. These latter include the 2006 poisoning of the British spy and traitor, Alexander Litvinenko (clearly not an act of the Russian secret services, who would have acted so as not to be identified), and the 2018 Skripal poisonings in the British Establishment military centre in Salisbury (and the subsequent censorship of the case and the father’s and daughter’s abductions carried out by MI5). These poisonings were due to a nasty substance to be found, perhaps uniquely on earth, at the highly secretive and evil Porton Down chemical weapons plant, just six miles from Salisbury. That MI5 and its SIS assassination arm (100 murders per year on average) with its many South African hirelings, could have been responsible would never be admitted by Johnson’s tiny mind.

Read more …

“..infrastructurally devastating cyberattacks..”

US Engaged In “Offensive” Cyber Ops Against Russia In Ukraine: NSA Director (ZH)

The US military has issued a stunning but perhaps not entirely unexpected admission that it has been conducting offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine. It marks the first ever such acknowledgement, and suggests – as many observers have long suspected – a deeper Pentagon and US intelligence role in Ukraine against the Russian military than previously thought. National Security Agency (NSA) and US Cyber Command Director Gen. Paul Nakasone told the UK’s Sky News on Wednesday, “We’ve conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum: offensive, defensive, [and] information operations.” This includes “offensive hacking operations” he said.

Without offering specific details, he continued, “My job is to provide a series of options to the secretary of Defense and the president, and so that’s what I do.” Importantly, Gen. Nakasone gave the interview from allied Baltic country Estonia, from which other supporting operations including weapons transfers for Ukraine have come. He spoke of major attempts of the Russians to launch infrastructurally devastating cyberattacks on Ukraine, saying, “And we’ve seen this with regards to the attack on their satellite systems, wiper attacks that have been ongoing, disruptive attacks against their government processes.” “This is kind of the piece that I think sometimes is missed by the public. It isn’t like they haven’t been very busy, they have been incredibly busy.

“And I think, you know, their resilience is perhaps the story that is most intriguing to all of us,” he said, describing the Ukrainian response. As for support the US has given Ukraine in the lead-up to the Russian invasion, the NSA director referenced the following: Nakasone previously said his agency deployed a “hunt forward” team in December to help Ukraine shore up its cyber defenses and networks against active threats. But his latest remarks appear to be the first time that a U.S. official said publicly that the U.S. has been involved in offensive cyber operations in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read more …

Pick your enemies wisely.

Biden To Visit Saudi Arabia In Push To Lower Oil Prices And Punish Russia (G.)

Joe Biden will reportedly visit Riyadh later this month and meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, abandoning a campaign pledge to make Saudi Arabia “a pariah” for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The Riyadh trip, first reported by the Washington Post and New York Times, suggests Biden has prioritized his need to bring oil prices down and thereby punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, over his stand on human rights. The visit will be added on to an already planned trip to Israel, Germany and Spain. The White House said it had no new travel plans to announce, but made clear there was no barrier to Biden meeting the crown prince.

“If he determines that it’s in the interests of the United States to engage with a foreign leader and that such an engagement can deliver results, then he’ll do so,” a senior White House official said. “In the case of Saudi Arabia, which has been a strategic partner of the United States for nearly 80 years, there’s no question that important interests are interwoven with Saudi Arabia. And the President views the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as an important partner on a host of initiatives that we are working on both in the region and around the world.” The end of the crown prince’s US isolation has looked likely since the Ukraine invasion began on 24 February. Seeking to cut off Russian revenue, Washington has sought an expansion of the global oil supply to bring down prices, which also represented a threat to already poor Democratic prospects in this year’s congressional elections.

The White House reportedly sought to set up a phone call between Biden and Mohammed in March, but was snubbed by the crown prince. However, the president’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and his special envoy for energy issues, Amos Hochstein, have persevered in paving the way for a meeting with a string of quiet trips to Riyadh.

Read more …

“..politicians are once again ignoring what is constitutionally possible..”

Biden’s Inner Trudeau (Turley)

In our increasingly hateful and divisive politics, there are times when our nation seems incapable of coming together for a common purpose. Tragedies — moments of shared national grieving and mutual support — once were the exception. Yet one of the most chilling aspects of the aftermath of the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was how the moment of unity was quickly lost to political posturing. Politicians have long admitted that a crisis is an opportunity not to be missed — the greater the tragedy, the greater the opportunity. After the mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket, New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called for censorship to “silence the voices of hatred and racism.” After the Uvalde massacre, some Democrats renewed calls for everything from court packing to ending the Senate filibuster.

The most immediate response, however, was a call for gun bans. Vice President Kamala Harris got out front of the White House by demanding a ban on AR-15s, the most popular weapon in America. Then President Joe Biden created a stir by suggesting he might seek to ban 9mm weapons. Such calls are not limited to the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government is introducing legislation to “implement a national freeze on handgun ownership.” He said Canadians would no longer be able “to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” adding that “there is no reason anyone in Canada should need guns in their everyday lives.”

The difference between the push in the two countries is the existence of the Second Amendment in the United States — a constitutionally mandated “reason” why Americans are allowed to have guns; they don’t have to prove it to the government. While the White House subsequently tried to walk back his comments, Biden saying there’s “no rational basis” to own 9mms and AR-15s sounds like he’s channeling his inner Canadian.There is now a strong majority for gun control reforms. However, politicians are once again ignoring what is constitutionally possible by focusing on what is politically popular with their voting base.

Read more …

A strange difference between guns for Ukraine and guns in America.

Arms Sent To Ukraine Will End Up In Criminal Hands, Says Interpol Chief (G.)

Weapons sent to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February will end up in the global hidden economy and in the hands of criminals, the head of Interpol has said. Jürgen Stock says once the conflict ends, a wave of guns and heavy arms will flood the international market and he urged Interpol’s member states, especially those supplying weapons, to cooperate on arms tracing. “Once the guns fall silent [in Ukraine], the illegal weapons will come. We know this from many other theatres of conflict. The criminals are even now, as we speak, focusing on them,” Stock said.

“Criminal groups try to exploit these chaotic situations and the availability of weapons, even those used by the military and including heavy weapons. These will be available on the criminal market and will create a challenge. “No country or region can deal with it in isolation because these groups operate at a global level.” He added: “We can expect an influx of weapons in Europe and beyond. We should be alarmed and we have to expect these weapons to be trafficked not only to neighbouring countries but to other continents.” He said Interpol urged members to use its database to help “track and trace” the weapons.

“We are in contact with member countries to encourage them to use these tools. Criminals are interested in all kinds of weapons … basically any weapons that can be carried might be used for criminal purposes.” Ukraine’s western allies have sent shipments of high-end military weapons to Ukraine since the Russian invasion more than three months ago. On Tuesday, the American president, Joe Biden, announced the US would supply Kyiv with advanced missile systems and munitions. After the US pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, following 20 years of war, huge amounts of often highly sophisticated military equipment was left behind and fell into the hands of the Taliban.

Read more …

Who wrote that headline? It’s Dominion, in 16 states!

Voting Software Vulnerable In Some States (AP)

Electronic voting machines from a leading vendor used in at least 16 states have software vulnerabilities that leave them susceptible to hacking if unaddressed, the nation’s leading cybersecurity agency says in an advisory sent to state election officials. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, or CISA, said there is no evidence the flaws in the Dominion Voting Systems’ equipment have been exploited to alter election results. The advisory is based on testing by a prominent computer scientist and expert witness in a long-running lawsuit that is unrelated to false allegations of a stolen election pushed by former President Donald Trump after his 2020 election loss. The advisory, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its expected Friday release, details nine vulnerabilities and suggests protective measures to prevent or detect their exploitation.


Amid a swirl of misinformation and disinformation about elections, CISA seems to be trying to walk a line between not alarming the public and stressing the need for election officials to take action. CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales said in a statement that “states’ standard election security procedures would detect exploitation of these vulnerabilities and in many cases would prevent attempts entirely.” Yet the advisory seems to suggest states aren’t doing enough. It urges prompt mitigation measures, including both continued and enhanced “defensive measures to reduce the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities.” Those measures need to be applied ahead of every election, the advisory says, and it’s clear that’s not happening in all of the states that use the machines.

Read more …

That’s all?

Bill Barr Applauds Durham For Showing Truth On Clinton Campaign, FBI (JTN)

Former Attorney General Bill Barr defended special counsel John Durham after the acquittal of ex-Clinton Campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, saying the prosecutor was able to shed light on the Hillary Clinton campaign’s “dirty trick” with the disproven Trump-Russia scandal and the related problems at the FBI. “No, I’m very proud of John Durham, and I do take responsibility for his appointment, and I think he and his team did an exceptionally able job, both digging out very important facts and presenting a compelling case to the jury,” Barr told Fox News host Jesse Waters on Wednesday. After Sussmann was acquitted of lying to the FBI, the jury forewoman told reporters that the case was a waste of time. “I don’t think it should have been prosecuted,” she said, according to The Washington Times.


“There are bigger things that affect the nation than a possible lie to the FBI.” Durham told Waters that while Durham “did not succeed in getting a conviction from the D.C. jury, I think he accomplished something far more important, which is he brought out the truth in two important areas. “First, I think he crystalized the central role played by the Hillary campaign in launching, as a dirty trick, the whole Russiagate Collusion narrative and fanning the flames of it,” Barr explained. “And second, I think he exposed really dreadful behavior by the supervisors in the FBI… who knowingly used this information to start an investigation of [former President Donald] Trump and then duped their own agents by lying to them and refusing to tell them what the real source of that information was,” Barr said, adding, “And that was appalling.”

Read more …

“..not a single aspect of globalization has been spared from the fallout of new geopolitical conflicts..”

The Decline and Fall of Davos Man (PS)

“Davos Man” has had a grim 14 years. The late Harvard University political scientist Samuel P. Huntington popularized the term in 2004 to describe a new overclass of evangelists for globalization. Davos Man, he claimed, wanted to see national borders disappear and the logic of politics superseded by that of the market. But since the 2008 global financial crisis, politics has increasingly trumped economics, a trend that reached its apotheosis in 2016 with Donald Trump’s election in the United States and the Brexit referendum. Both events represented a backlash against Davos Man’s vision of a frictionless world governed (not run) as efficiently as possible by “multi-stakeholder processes.”

Moreover, at this year’s annual gathering in Davos, attendees had to confront an even bigger challenge than national politics: the return of geopolitics. The World Economic Forum’s theme was “History at a Turning Point,” in recognition of the fact that we have reached the end of the “end of history.” Although the WEF’s ethos is to promote cooperation in the pursuit of “one world,” the new agenda is necessarily focused on conflict and division. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression on Ukraine obviously loomed large at this year’s meeting. To open the event, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – appearing virtually in his now familiar military fatigues – spoke of a world split along the fault lines of fundamental values. And Russia House, the facility where Russian delegations hosted parties and networking events in years past, was transformed by Ukrainian activists and donors into the Russian War Crimes House, with an exhibition calling attention to Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

After browsing this year’s program, it soon became clear that not a single aspect of globalization has been spared from the fallout of new geopolitical conflicts – between Russia and the West, China and the West, China and its neighbors, and so forth. Instead of panels discussing free-trade agreements, there were multiple sessions on economic warfare. Political and business leaders grappled with the fact that we now live in a world where central-bank reserves can be confiscated, commercial banks can be summarily disconnected from the SWIFT international payments system, and private assets can potentially be seized to pay for a country’s reconstruction.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fertilization
https://twitter.com/i/status/1532366041115938816

 

 

Crazy dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1385955664506150913

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 3 2022

Viewing 37 posts - 1 through 37 (of 37 total)
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  • #108964

    Carl Bloch The transfiguration c1865   • The East Grows Stronger While The West Gets Weaker (ZH) • Zelensky Says Russia Controls A Fifth Of Ukrai
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 3 2022]

    #108965
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    I dunno between the Belgian Malinois and the Carl Bloch The transfiguration c1865

    They’re both so awesome…
    IMO, Carl Bloch The transfiguration is beyond words…and true to what I’ve read of the actual event…

    Damn, that dog is just incredible…

    #108966
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    That dog really is amazing. Scratching my head with how a human would communicate such lessons to a dog.

    And I’m still scratching my head over the argument “intentional versus incompetence” with regard to world events. Covid, monkeypox, “vaccines”, Ukraine, energy embargoes, elections, food plant fires, fertilizers, WEF…

    I mean, each could be an island of incompetence unto itself, or… the Dr. Evil clip comes to mind… the enormity of that is, well, ‘enormous’.

    In a potential analogy: “evolution or creation – either is miraculous”

    #108967
    teri
    Participant

    Boy, here’s some right-in-your-face shit: after getting the EU to commit economic suicide by sanctioning Russian oil (following orders from their “ally”, the US), Joe Biden now says that the US can benefit from the reduced prices that Russia will surely have to offer in order to sell their oil. I guess the US is going to end its own embargo of Russian oil and LNG soon; certainly before the mid-terms.

    I wonder if anyone in the EU is paying attention. Biden is flatly laying out how they were just sold down the river in this US game and he is more or less gloating about it. For its part, Russia responded by saying they won’t sell without a profit and will find the profit in whatever markets that the demand for oil products opens up – a remark which very subtly points out that this whole shit-show has sent prices up, and the US won’t be getting bargain basement pricing after instigating the whole thing.

    see:
    https://www.rt.com/news/556489-biden-cheap-russian-oil/

    #108968
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Canadian Bank Apologizes to Freedom Convoy Protest Participant for Freezing His Account”

    And? Money talks. Bulls—t walks. You’re going to do what to assure me this never happens for the rest of our natural lives?

    That’s right: nothin’. Here’s a kick in the teeth. You’ll get nothing and like it. Sell every one of these guys within an inch of their lives.

    US to Sell Ukraine Advanced Drones Armed with Hellfire Missiles in Coming Days”

    Can’t wait. Since nothing is flying from coast to coast, can’t wait to see what Russia does to them. Like “Top Gun: Maverick’s” airplane, the drones are like generations old. Of course the Top Gun jet is thirty years OLDER than it was OLD back when the first movie was shot.

    “Russia Uses Chinese Ships and Indian Refiners to Stay Ahead of Make More Money than Evah During Oil Sanctions”

    Thanks Europe! You’re footin’ the bill. You’re the one who won’t buy. Putin’s just rolling in swimming pools full of your money. And they keep the oil!

    Prices don’t have any relationship with supply and demand,” Draghi has said.”

    Now that prices are high, lo! Suddenly the market isn’t doing proper price discovery! How about that? We’ve been saying that for years. This is part of a plan to get Russia to send oil for free by using price caps. Europe as a block will say, “We’re only paying $80.” That’s it. That’s the whole plan. To me it sounds like they’re planning on rigging prices to $80 in their zone, then telling Russia that’s the Russian price. Good luck.

    Then they can blame greedy capitalists and small business and run them out of town and steal all their stuff!! While making shortages worse and killin’ more people! Genius!

    “ “Countries that oppose [the idea] defend the concept of a free market … this free market has allowed gas prices to increase five or six-fold without there being a real physical reason, for example a shortage, which has affected the cost of electricity.”

    You mean like Tesla being larger/higher than all car companies combined? That kind of market-rigging? Or silver under production price for 40 years? Like that? Or milk so low Wisconsin dumps it? Or like an asteroid hit the earth, dininn do nothin’, and not a war we caused? Do wars cause high gas prices, Mr. Cigolani? Nope. They cause low prices according to him. Does refusing to buy fuel cause domestic shortages? Nope, according to him.

    “Universal Basic Income? IMF Calls for Governments to Subsidize Food and Energy”

    High prices got you down? Print more money!

    “US Engaged in “Offensive” Cyber Ops Against Russia in Ukraine: NSA Director”

    And missile drones, And medium-range missiles, And full 100% satellite intel. We’re in the war. Does being in a hot war with a nuclear power cause high gas prices for the people? Apparently.

    Armenio: Since God and I are one, ultimately one consciousness, obviously then my will and God’s will are one. Therefore I would not have free will. But since God and I are one, I have the same free will God has, as a part and subset of him, and therefore have total free will. What you’re suffering from is an illusion of separation, that you’re not part of the universe, not made up of the one Consciousness that all reality is made of. This causes endless myriad problems and contradictions. Call things by their right names and there are no contradictions. Would that be “Eternal Dissatisfaction” because God wishes to move? I don’t motivate solely from hate, more often I desire or explore, curious about “What next?” “What’s this?” “What happens?”

    Still down, thinking about back when the Left used to not be violently pro-war:

    “Take all the money that you need for school and To keep the street people in outta the cold.
    Spend it on a weapon you can never use, Make the world an offer that they can’t refuse.
    Open up the door and let the shark men feed, Hoover of the future in the land of greed,
    Sell the Pondarosa to the Japanese, Slap leather, head for that line of trees, yeah.
    Slap leather. go on, run. just about to go myself.

    Turn the whole wide world into a TV show, So its just the same game wherever you go.
    You never meet a soul that you don’t already know, One big advertisement for the status quo.
    As if these celebrities were you close friends, As if you knew how the story ends
    As if you ain’t sittin’ in a room alone And there was somebody real at the other end of the phone, yeah!
    Squibnocket, PHONE SEX!
    Just about to dial your number.

    Get all worked up so we could go to war, We’d find something worth a’ killin’ for.
    Tie a yellow ribbon around your eyes, Big Mac falafel and a side of fries, yeah!
    Big Mac falafel, Stormin’ Norman, I just a’ love a parade!
    Slap leather.
    Phone love.
    Big Mac falafel.
    Just about to dial myself.” –James Taylor

    #108969
    Dr. D
    Participant

    The backlash to the gender confusion and attacks on “heteronormative” will be epic and drive the culture back into a male chauvinism and a disgust of non-hetero expression again. That’s one reason I’m so against it. Look, if you go on about it like this, just expressing, trampling raw power, the same bad power-oppression you said the other guy did, that thing that was bad, wrong, and reprehensible when it was done to you, you’re going to get all your, my, gay friends killed. They’re going to have to go back underground. But that won’t happen for 10-20 years, so you don’t care? You’re putting a big target on them that won’t appear til then? Wth kind of sense does that make? We got to a very nice point where no one cared, no one was grinding you about not being man enough, where you could do what you want, even live with your same-sex spouse. And the appalling overreach is going to undo all that. Gay, etc, historically might be 3%. Perhaps they’re drugging people right now, with soy, BPA, other hormones to make it 6%. But the jocks are like 20%. And the normal guys are like 20%. Is it too difficult to say don’t antagonize people who will discover great joy and amusement in shoving you in a locker? What do you get out of it? Go hang out with your friends and a wine-and-theatre party. Leave them alone. They’re so self-interested and short-sighted that they’ll forget you exist and leave you alone too. Like bears or something. Don’t poke them.

    I say it — anti-Wokeness which can even be construed as anti-gay — because A) their premise is illogical and that bugs me, but B) I can see it coming to a bad end and probably already has.

    And C) like Phoenix, I feel that many people act like a brain-in-a-jar, alienated from life, nature, and their body, and if they looked deep, they would see and integrate with the body and expression they physically have. That is, when they really got down to it, they would find that being a man, or woman, fits them better than the contrary for many reasons, but not the least of which is if that’s your plumbing, your actual, physical reality, then it’s better to capitalize on the powers and strengths you were born with and already have, than to start from zero and attempt to entirely re-fabricate ones you don’t and have no affinity for.

    It would be like being an intellectual by nature, then discarding and refusing it, pointedly not reading books, not talking to people, and having to spend 9 hours a day working out and punching, wrestling with other men to be a tough guy instead. Knowing at any moment your intelligence might pop up and ruin the whole thing. Suppress, suppress! Why would you do that? If nothing else, the stress and constant vigilance will make you unhappy. People are like this, women for instance who had a bad childhood, can’t trust, etc. but it can and often happens that they finally meet the right man, or something similar, their womanhood opens up, and unlike being a tough, hard, unfeeling, brain like the men are, they find themselves more relaxed, loving, and open at last, as women are. And then, in counterintuitive way, their openness, what they thought was being vulnerable makes them happy and safe instead. They may have never known, and how would they? That is, you accept what really was your inner nature, your self. Connecting to it gives you power far beyond the intellect, brain, ego you thought was so important, that you thought was your only self. In reality, your ego is like an oil-slick on a puddle, a mile wide and one inch deep. Reality is everything NOT in your brain.

    Everyone can orient themselves toward these things, towards whatever they want. Certainly I can. You can force it as you can make yourself learn times tables or the name of every actor on Friends. But there is a secret, invisible underlying reality that puts you into your deeper power. As far as I can tell, that does mostly correspond to your actual gender, when you understand, accept, and integrate it. …But not always, of course.

    So it has many fronts. Aside from making a fad of forced child sterilization, it creates massive unnecessary confusion, enormous distress, alienates people from themselves, causes mental disorders, destroys others and families because of it, wastes time and attention when the whole culture is under attack, screws up children in nearly irreversible ways, but most importantly de-powers us by cutting us off from Nature, our own natures, and therefore God. It’s #AntiLogos and #AntiGod, although you can’t understand the depth of meaning of this without the long paragraphs above. They are against Physics, Nature, Reality, Harmony, rest, contentment, peace, and God. That is their religion of Ego. THEY are the “Eternal Dissatisfaction”. This gender attack ticks all of the boxes so they would get to it like moths to a flame. …And jsut as we’ve seen in other cultures over and over. This symptom shows they’ve radically and dangerously cut themselves off from nature and self, and therefore their inner power collapses. When that happens, they are conquered from the fringes, from “outside”, from people who are NOT in rebellion against nature and themselves. In my estimation, this is purposefully engineered to do so right now. The U.S. is supposed to lose, and follow the 1917 Russian revolution and return to the USSR, erasing the Enlightenment and Human Rights worldwide. Just one front in the inner collapse.

    So it’s difficult to tell kids what to do about that. There are no landmarks as these things are all invisible and no person can know and tell others who they need to be. So you can certainly say the body they are in is amazing and precious and they should exalt that one for what it is first, rather than hating it, being dissatisfied, and wanting something else. It’s sort of required.

    If you only had a 2001 Neon with bad shocks, you should still learn to drive that one out to the edge like an expert, and it will teach you so much better how to be an driver than getting in a Ferrari your daddy bought from the doctor. And in fact, what you’d have is a ‘01 Neon with a second-hand Ferrari hood welded on top which looks pretty disturbing to everyone else, who will think you’re a weirdo while you think you’re cool. You might find like the 1964 Monte Carlo that that silly Mini Cooper you started with actually wins the race hands down if you use it right. You win the prize. Everybody adores you. They coo over your lines. Whole books are written when you thought your body was stupid, slow, ugly failure like a Yugo. Don’t toss it away. You are who you are. I say that since it took me a long time to come into my power and figure out how to come into my true gender: “Brainiac”. (Just kidding, being a man is good, but you have to deal both with its strengths and many weaknesses. Esp when society gives you a one-word instruction manual for it: “GFY” The book has a post script though: “I hope you die.”)

    #108970
    chooch
    Participant

    Thanks for that Dr. D,

    God is a paradox (not really)

    Life is a mystery (thank God)

    Man chooses to create hell on earth.

    #108971
    Kassandra
    Participant

    women for instance who had a bad childhood, can’t trust, etc. but it can and often happens that they finally meet the right man, or something similar, their womanhood opens up, and unlike being a tough, hard, unfeeling, brain like the men are, they find themselves more relaxed, loving, and open at last, as women are. And then, in counterintuitive way, their openness, what they thought was being vulnerable makes them happy and safe instead. They may have never known, and how would they? That is, you accept what really was your inner nature, your self. Connecting to it gives you power far beyond the intellect, brain, ego you thought was so important, that you thought was your only self. In reality, your ego is like an oil-slick on a puddle, a mile wide and one inch deep. Reality is everything NOT in your brain.

    @Dr D – This exactly, 100%. I lived it. I was an extreme tomboy because of it. Rude, crude, tougher than anyone. If I were a child today of some woke idiot I be “trans” without a doubt. Thank God I learned to love myself and connect with who I am. What a nightmare I was saved from.

    My husband’s old co-worker died suddenly this past weekend. Middle aged and uber fit and healthy. Most certainly vaxxed and boosted as it’s a requirement at the job, it’s why we left our jobs and moved 1000 miles. Chest pains at work on Friday. Found dead Monday. I now know of at least half a dozen middle aged men that have died suddenly this past year. I’m not saying I have never heard of it before, but so many so close to me in such a short period of time? And I also know many women with “mystery illnesses” that are killing them. Seems men are just keeling over, and women dying slow deaths, all around me. Maybe it’s just that I’m now middle ages and notice?

    #108972
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Regarding the theorized decline and fall of Davos Man I have a few stern comments.

    First and foremost would be these two conjoined supplication to the Almighty: “Oh, that it were so!”, and, “Then again, on second thought, maybe not.”

    Next would be that we haven’t seen the back of Davos Man quite yet. There’s a gun fight still scheduled for High Noon out on Main Street. Be there or be square.

    And lastly, my advice to all who would heed it (all others are invited to go fly a kite) : Be not too eager for the end of conflict. The end of conflict is what Davos Man envisions. I would remind everyone who gives a damn that the “end of conflict” . . . . . . is the end.

    #108973

    Wishes for the internet:
    I wish all articles were dated, with the year included.
    I wish all graphs would have X and Y axes meet at ZERO and those axes would be clearly labelled.

    Joke from over at ZH: I used to drink brake fluid, but I stopped.

    “You’re putting a big target on them…” Absolutely. And I’ve haven’t seen the word “overreach ” used so aptly in a long time.
    From over at Rintrah, his take on transgenderism, with a mean-spirited commenter expressing what that backlash may look like.

    #108974
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Ukronazis are selling Javelins on the dark web for 30k a pop.

    Sweet.

    So all the ‘military aid’ that the Empire of Lies and Eurotardistan are sending is now being pawned off for other terrorist organizations around the globe.

    Go team go!

    .

    #108975
    zerosum
    Participant

    rumors
    I’ve heard talk that the mentally unstable people would not be allowed to posses guns.
    I’ve heard democrats call all republicans mentally unstable

    #108976
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    How poetically fitting to the current state of chaos of this hyper-technicalized little world of ours that the NEXT “Shot Heard Round The World” will be in the form of an e-mail instead of a musket ball.

    The payment of values, the expressed ideas of commanders, the strategizing, the orders & compliance reports, the commanding orders of supreme importance (shockingly psychopathic in substance), and even that soon to be issued CRUCIAL commanding order that irrevocably ignites the grand finale . . . . . all of them . . . . . every missive that matters . . . . was sent via e-mail or its equivalent.

    Therefore the entity (the “someones”) which controls those ephemeral electrons (and the network of systems they all run on) pretty much runs the whole show.

    (and anyone who thinks that the persons whose LIFEBLOOD is those systems do not know EVERYTHING permitted to be transmitted through those systems . . . . . . is indescribably stupid.)

    And we don’t REALLY know who that is or precisely quite how it’s down.

    “Someone” is leading, they’re doing such a piss poor job that it’s about to get us all killed, and we don’t honestly know who they are.

    Does that fairly describe it?

    #108977
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #108978
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @MrHouse regarding the article, “PAUSE FOR THOUGHT: MONEY WITHOUT VALUE IN A RAPIDLY DISINTEGRATING WORLD”

    Thanks for the link. That is a very good read. To go on keeping the mostly useless crap in our lives, we have to make the crap even more useless, and make more of it. I think that there may be an important lesson in morals and logic in there somewhere

    #108979
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Have you noticed that the tide has turned? There are distinctly increased number of sleepish folks starting to wake up and smell the cordite, and more wakeful folks becoming downright alert. Also notice that there is pretty much nobody deciding that now would be a good time to take a break and go catch some shuteye.

    #108980
    Noirette
    Participant

    (phoenix v. on prev thread, yes.)

    This brief vid. 1.37 min of Oleksiy Arestovych in 2019, questioned about the future events in Ukr. is v. interesting, prescient.

    eng subs. https://bit.ly/3andunw (you tube)

    He is at present an advisor for Zelensky.

    His wiki entry (he is into all kinds of stuff! have a look..) mentions this 2019 prediction.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleksiy_Arestovych

    here the original footage, March 2019, 13 mins long. (Not trans. anywhere afaik.)

    https://bit.ly/3MgZ996 (mainstream Russian TV afaik)

    #108981
    Oroboros
    Participant

    So the goal is to de-industrialize Germany, the only truly productive manufacturing concern in Eurotardistan®, and give all the manufacturing to China and their Asian allies.

    With the sanctions induced price increases in fuel and food for Germany, they will be totally noncompetitive to China for any manufactured product.

    China will eat their lunch.

    Once you’ve broken Germany’s back, the other EU ‘countries’, if you can even call them that, will follow into medieval subjugation and become their destiny of agrarian feudal slave plantations, dominated by third world immigrants who are used to taking orders from tyrants. Perfect.

    The native EU population’s birth rate will drop to near zero, especially with the Vax sterilizing huge portions of the present adult population and even more importantly, the next generation of young gender confused, vaxed to the max, and unused to any kind of manual labor.

    Gonna be a Big Wakeup Shock.

    Eurotardistan® is gonna be pickin’ cotton from now on.

    Totally dependent on wildly over priced Empire of Lies LNG and wheat.

    Cold, dark, long painful winters followed by summer blackouts and heatwaves.

    Sign me up!

    #108983
    chooch
    Participant

    (11 months before invasion)

    “We tend to repeat what worked. Political scientists call it “path-dependence.” Finding himself now in what could be a tighter bind, politically and economically, than in 2012-13 and with the “Crimean consensus” eroding, Putin may reach for that which has done very well by him in the past: short victorious wars.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/15/russia-putin-invasion-ukraine-baltics-nato-475527

    (4 months before invasion)

    “Ukraine is considering several scenarios for the development of the military situation and carries out strategic planning in case it has to repel a full-scale invasion of the aggressor. Oleksiy Arestovich, advisor to the head of the President’s Office, speaker of the Ukrainian side in the Trilateral Contact Group, spoke about this on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.”

    “There are 9 scenarios”: Arestovich revealed the secrets of Ukraine’s preparation for a big war

    #108984
    chooch
    Participant

    (3 months before invasion)

    “We don’t know what President Putin’s intentions are. But we do know what’s happened in the past. We know the playbook of trying to cite some illusory provocation from Ukraine or any other country and using that as an excuse for what Russia plans to do all along,”

    https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2021-11-23/putin-spokesman-russia-wont-invade-ukraine-unless-its-provoked?context=amp

    (3 months before invasion)

    “Russia has concentrated about one hundred thousand troops near the borders of Ukraine and is preparing an attack early next year. Kirill Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, spoke about this in an interview with the Military Times.”

    Air strikes, riots and landing in Odessa – date of the Russian attack

    #108985
    chooch
    Participant

    (2 months before invasion)

    “The eight-point draft treaty was released by Russia’s foreign ministry as its forces massed within striking distance of Ukraine’s borders. Moscow said ignoring its interests would lead to a “military response” similar to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-issues-list-demands-tensions-europe-ukraine-nato

    (3 months after invasion)

    Ukraine will be able to go on the offensive against Russia between late May and mid-June, thanks to weapons supplied by the U.S. and European countries, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

    [..] “Decisive fighting,” as Zelenskyy put it, over the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is expected to begin soon. Ukraine will be able to form units for its offensive as tanks, long-range artillery and other weapons will begin to arrive from the U.S. and Europe in mid-May, Arestovich said.

    [..] Arestovich referred to three scenarios for the war. One is the “liberalization of locations occupied by Russian forces” in a month or two as a result of the Ukrainian troops’ efforts to push the invaders back. In the second scenario, Russia promptly mobilizes reserves, delaying the launch of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. The third sees progress in cease-fire negotiations following a halt to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

    https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Ukraine-to-launch-counteroffensive-by-mid-June-Zelenskyy-aide

    #108986
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    A note for WES:

    You enjoyed my take on Santa. I’ve finally gotten well enough to carry it forward a long ways and should have it wrapped it ere long. But if you’re interested, email me at [email protected], and I’ll send you the first 60 pages. It being a book about Xmas, it of course will probably be finished on July 4th, a calendric antipode away from Yuletide.

    Either way, be well, old man, and kiss a maple tree for me, pls! 🙂

    #108987
    chooch
    Participant

    The Ukrainian military “dragged” Russian troops into a trap in Severodonetsk. The enemy suffers losses and receives hard counterattacks.

    Aleksey Arestovich, the adviser to the head of the President’s Office, said this on his Facebook page.

    “I recently spoke here about the enemy’s increased operational and tactical skills – the Russian troops. And now – watch your hands. We dragged the Russian troops into a trap in Severodonetsk, pretending to” surrender “the city,” he wrote.

    According to Arestovich, now the Russian command is in shock. The Russians reported about the “capture” of Severodonetsk, and now they have received a tough counterattack from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “The defenders of Ukraine are now liquidating Moscow comrades,” the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office noted, even though the occupiers have superiority in aviation and artillery.

    “They dragged Russian troops into a trap in Severodonetsk”: Arestovich revealed the plan of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

    #108988
    cloudhidden
    Participant

    “The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war.”
    E. Hemingway

    Here we are…..again

    #108989
    chooch
    Participant

    (Being reported, but not sufficiently confirmed yet)

    “According to Haidai, the Russian army suffers significant losses in the regional center. “And the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ refuses to fight for the ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’,” he said.”

    https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3499316-ukraine-army-retakes-20-of-sievierodonetsk-controls-half-of-city-haidai.html

    #108990
    chooch
    Participant

    Russian media hair on fire.

    #108991
    John Day
    Participant

    @VP Gary: I’m glad you liked the angel-on-shoulder analogy, Brother. Sign of a “healthy ego”.

    Dr. D said (amongst other things): “Armenio: Since God and I are one, ultimately one consciousness, obviously then my will and God’s will are one. Therefore I would not have free will. But since God and I are one, I have the same free will God has, as a part and subset of him, and therefore have total free will. What you’re suffering from is an illusion of separation, that you’re not part of the universe, not made up of the one Consciousness that all reality is made of. This causes endless myriad problems and contradictions.”
    Well, I’m not beating-a-dead-horse to point out that if we are something like characters in a dream in the mind of God, and even if everything within a dream is a manifestation of the consciousness of the dreamer, we can still deny that and be oblivious to it. We have that much “free will”.

    @Dr.D & Kassandra: When I was a third year medical student, at the end of my Obstetrics/GYN rotation, we all gave presentations. Mine was on Natural Childbirth, almost fringe and edgy, but I got my rotation in Austin, and the Department head, Dr. Weinberg was really hip and cool, and I knew I could do it. I was graded well.
    Paul Weinberg was wonderful, board certified in Psych and OB/GYN and could take out GYN cancers covered in a pool of blood, as if he could see clearly.
    I digress.
    It was hard for me to recall what I gave my talk on just now, but I suspect everybody STILL remembers (from 1985) that a male and female class member (cis-gendered, as far as I know) performed this duet.
    There was not a dry eye in the room, including Dr. Weinberg!

    #108992
    John Day
    Participant

    @Mr.House: Thanks for this.

    Pause for Thought: Money without Value in a Rapidly Disintegrating World


    It opens thusly: “The acceleration of the “emergency paradigm” since 2020 has a simple yet widely disavowed purpose: to conceal socioeconomic collapse.”

    @All-Y’all: I trained that dog! (Sorry, confabulating again…)


    @Oroboros
    , who said: “The Ukronazis are selling Javelins on the dark web for 30k a pop. Sweet.”
    NEVAH PAY RETAIL!


    @Ilargi
    and “Science Girl”: I got paid to be a genetic donor in Med School.
    “Aigs”, as we call them here, flooded my swimmers with their best chemoattractants.
    I was told with a wink that I was considered to be “a proven donor”.
    Jenny and I got married right after I finished my third year of med school. she supported me for my last year. She made me give up that part-time job…
    Later, we did ok on our own. (Holly, Steve, Jim and Amber)

    #108993
    John Day
    Participant

    @Boscohorowitz: “Christmas comes early.”


    @Teri
    , regarding this:
    Biden hints at benefits from EU’s Russian oil embargo
    Discounted Russian crude could be bought by the US to mitigate the gas price hike
    Naah, Nobody’s THAT Stupid.

    @Chooh: Sound like Russians are getting war-fever, at least from that link.
    First We Take Manhattan (then we take Berlin)

    @D. Benton Smith: i sure feel it, and when I mention it to people, they are often eager to tell me their feelings and observations. (Plus, I’m up over 750 subscribers to my blog now.)

    #108994
    John Day
    Participant

    @Ilargi: About that disability graph. It was another form of stimulus.
    It started in 2020. ALL of the applications for SSDI started getting processed and APPROVED.
    I never saw anything like it.
    It had to be completely intentional.
    I do not know whose decision it was or how many desired or undesired effects it may be having.

    #108995
    willem
    Participant

    What I heard about SSDI was that a lot of people that could no longer qualify for extended unemployment benefits were trying to go on long term disability, and many of those applications got approved.

    “The acceleration of the “emergency paradigm” since 2020 has a simple yet widely disavowed purpose: to conceal socioeconomic collapse.”

    I found that this said it all in a nutshell. Anyone interested in diving deeper into this idea of governing by emergency might be interested in reading Giorgio Agamben’s “State of Exception” and/or his more recent “Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics.”

    #108996
    John Day
    Participant

    Regarding Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years as Queen of the Realm, and Prince Chuck’s seeming lack of suitability 9in the eyes of many).
    A hope remains, though unspoken-of: Simon Dorante-Day, Chuck and Camilla’s teenage love-child
    https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/prince-charles-camillas-aussie-son-shares-new-photo-proof-and-it-goes-viral-c-2657079
    and his lovely wife:
    Dr Elvianna Dorante-Day (PhD Public Health) is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. She is married to Simon Charles Dorante-Day who has long claimed to be the son of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

    Meet the Indigenous woman who married into the Royal family

    #108997
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    The Narrative…

    #108998
    aspnaz
    Participant

    @Dr D said

    The backlash to the gender confusion and attacks on “heteronormative” will be epic and drive the culture back into a male chauvinism and a disgust of non-hetero expression again.

    As has been the way at the fall of every empire. The “tolerance” of depravity has been a symptom of the death of civilizations from Greece to USA. The rapid swing to intolerance is needed to correct the sinking ship: the focus will return to what is needed to build a successful society. First. you need successful families as the foundation, so the focus on families will be forced by forcing people back into their gender roles. This is nature and I welcome the return to basics, not some mythical idealist “better” that they keep whining on about.

    I also hope that the prevalance of city living is destroyed to make way for a preference for village living where everybody gets to benefit from the so-far-illusionary benefits of automation that reduce our working week. I fear that the money changers will not welcome that improvement to society and the inherent empowering of people through community.

    #108999
    John Day
    Participant

    New Michael Hudson interview is up on The Saker:

    Michael Hudson: Interview with the newly founded German magazine “ViER”

    #109000
    Michael Reid
    Participant
    #109001
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    This would be different

    I find the refrain; “nobody wants nuclear war” highly disturbing because the mere mention allows for the possibiliy…

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